Police clash with protesters

KAMPALA – Ugandan police used water cannon, teargas, batons and live rounds yesterday to disperse hundreds of opposition supporters protesting at the arrest of two politicians accused of inciting anti-Indian violence.

Witnesses said scores of security officers, some in plain clothes, used force to disperse several hundred demonstrators gathered to back two opposition parliamentarians arrested over a protest on Thursday in which an Indian and two rioters died. “They chased me away then started beating me.I have pain all over,” said opposition supporter Richard Musoke, 36.One police officer drew a pistol and pointed it at a man’s head, a Reuters witness said.In another incident, five military policemen beat protesters to the ground with batons.”The people who caused mayhem last Thursday will not be allowed to assemble here.We shall stop them,” Kampala police commander Edward Ochom said at the scene.Police arrested MPs Beatrice Atim and Hussein Kyanjo and 25 other people on Monday over rioting in Kampala last week in protest against a government proposal to give an Indian-owned company almost one third of a rainforest reserve to grow sugar.Both MPs had been involved in organising the demonstration.They were due to appear in court later yesterday.Mobs looted shops, dragged people off motorcycles and stoned an Indian man to death last Thursday, in scenes recalling the late dictator Idi Amin’s 1972 expulsion of all residents of Asian origin.Two rioters were shot dead and police had to rescue more than 100 Indians.Several thousand people, mainly of Indian or Pakistani descent, returned to Uganda after President Yoweri Museveni took power in 1986, and some people resent their business clout.The latest controversy began last year when Museveni ordered a study into whether to raze at least 7 000 hectares of Mabira Forest, a nature reserve since 1932, to expand the sugar estate of the private, Indian-owned Mehta Group.The plan triggered public outrage.Critics say destroying Mabira would devastate local ecosystems and dry up lakes.Museveni says conservation is a luxury for rich nations.When police fired warning shots in the air yesterday, protesters replied by smashing windows as they fled.”See this?” shouted one angry protester to watching reporters.”We are tired of Museveni.”Nampa-Reuters”They chased me away then started beating me.I have pain all over,” said opposition supporter Richard Musoke, 36.One police officer drew a pistol and pointed it at a man’s head, a Reuters witness said.In another incident, five military policemen beat protesters to the ground with batons.”The people who caused mayhem last Thursday will not be allowed to assemble here.We shall stop them,” Kampala police commander Edward Ochom said at the scene.Police arrested MPs Beatrice Atim and Hussein Kyanjo and 25 other people on Monday over rioting in Kampala last week in protest against a government proposal to give an Indian-owned company almost one third of a rainforest reserve to grow sugar.Both MPs had been involved in organising the demonstration.They were due to appear in court later yesterday.Mobs looted shops, dragged people off motorcycles and stoned an Indian man to death last Thursday, in scenes recalling the late dictator Idi Amin’s 1972 expulsion of all residents of Asian origin.Two rioters were shot dead and police had to rescue more than 100 Indians.Several thousand people, mainly of Indian or Pakistani descent, returned to Uganda after President Yoweri Museveni took power in 1986, and some people resent their business clout.The latest controversy began last year when Museveni ordered a study into whether to raze at least 7 000 hectares of Mabira Forest, a nature reserve since 1932, to expand the sugar estate of the private, Indian-owned Mehta Group.The plan triggered public outrage.Critics say destroying Mabira would devastate local ecosystems and dry up lakes.Museveni says conservation is a luxury for rich nations.When police fired warning shots in the air yesterday, protesters replied by smashing windows as they fled.”See this?” shouted one angry protester to watching reporters.”We are tired of Museveni.”Nampa-Reuters